Across the Wastelands
by KatAang32
Summary: Aang is sent on a journey by King Bumi... One that only he can take... To search for something very important, except Bumi wouldn't tell him what he needed to find! What will he find?
1. Chapter 1

**I have absolutely nothing to do with AtLA or Nickelodeon**

The Cave.

"I'm sorry Appa, but you are going to have to stay here. From this point on only I can go." Aang said as he pressed his forehead to his beloved sky bison's. "The wind is just to strong for anyone else to try to cross."

The strong wind blew a thick mist across the murky swamp wastelands, Aang stared at the mountain range beyond. There was no way anyone could get passed the wastelands to reach the moutain range. Why did Bumi shen him? Why is it so important? Whatever was in those mountains was there to be protected from the reast of the world... it must be something special... no ordinary person could cross this storm... the storm that has never stopped.

*RRRRRRR* Appa growned in protest.

"I'll be okay, I'm going to have to go in the Avatar State to get through it, that's why you can't come."

*RRRRRR* Appa growned again.

"I will be careful, I don't know how long it will take me, buddy." Aang lovingly patter Appa's head. "Just wait here. I promise I'll be back."

Aang took a deep calming breath, to calm the worries that his best friend had been picking up on, then slowly let it out. He took his first step into what felt like dead plants and thick mud, that threatened to take his boots from him while the winds threartened to throw him about. He closed his eyes and took in another deep breath. As he slowly let it out his tattoos began to glow. Aang began to freeze the muck under his feet, giving him something solid to walk on; the ice will eventually thaw leaving the moutain range protected once again. He also created a wind bubble around himself, decreasing the wind speeds around himself making it a bit easyer to cross.

He went on like this for hours, slowly draining him. He needed to rest... to let his strength to build once again. He bent the mud into solid earth beneath the spot he chose as his first resting point, he created a dome of earth with a hole in the top around himself to block the wind as he rested. Next came the fire for warmth. He used his firebending to dry the dead plants and started a fire.

As he layed down his thoughts went to his family... His three children... and the tiny one growing inside his wife... it hurt to be so far away, but he had to make this journey on his own. It wasn't long before he fell asleep, the Avatar State had drained almost everyt bit of energy he had in himself.

When he woke up he ate some of the bread Katara packed in his pack, as well as some fried fruit and nuts. Once he felt restored his trek began once again; he left the camp site as it is, so that he could stop there on his way back.

Aang felt like he was walking for days... The sky was darkened by the storm so he had no sence of time... Was it day? Was it night? How long has he been walking? How many days has he been away from his family?

He looked up at the mountain that had been drawn onto the map his best friend Bumi had sent with the letter he had recieved. Bumi was a strong man, mad, but strange... As Aang walked he thought about his friendship with Bumi, a friendship that has lasted well over one hundred years.

* * *

_"Aang, Jingbo just dropped this off." Katara said as she brought a letter to him in his home office. The letter was sealed with the stamp of Omashu. He broke the way seal open, it was a letter._

_My dear Aang, my best friend._

_A sickness has torn through my body, leaving me frail and weak, and I fear will not recover. Time has come to share a secreat that I have kept for so long. This is for you and only you, Aang. You have a hard journey ahead of you. There is a cave you need to go to, this will not be easy or short, and it will drain you greatly but you have to go. You need to travel north to the great stormy wastelands. The storm is so strong that not even Appa will beable to acompanty you into the wastelands. Then into the mountains beyond. At the bottom of the center mouintain you will find a broken path that leads up the mountain, at the top of the path you will find a cave. You MUST travel to this cave. You must look for something very important._

_A lot of time has passed already, you must leave as soon as possable._

_King Bumi of Omashu (And Floppsy)_

_There a map hand drawn onto the second piece of paper in Aang's hands._

_"Katara." Aang said as he entered the front frrom of their home. "King Bumi has sent me on a special journy... a very important one that only I can take, not even Appa will be able to go past a certain point."_

_Katara was sitting on the couch, as both of her hands came up to rest on her extended belly, she looked sad for a few moments as she thought about what he just said. "Promise me you will be okay... Promise you will come back to us as soon as possible."_

_"I promise I will come back to you... to our children. I will be okay, I promise, My Love, I promise." He told her as he pulled her into a hug. "I have to leave as soon as possible."_

_Katara packed a bag with food and some supplies. The next morning she walked down with him to where Appa was loaded up and waiting. "Please, be safe... we still need you, the world still needs you." She told him before going upon her toesto kiss him good bye. "Keep your promises... Ilove you."_

_His storm gray eyes staired donw into her sapphire blue eyes. "I love you... I'm going to miss all of you dearly." He told his whole family, smiling as he rested his bands on the sides of his wife's belly. "I have never broken a promise, My Love. And I don't intend to ever." After kissing each of his children he hopped up onto Appa. "Ready Buddy?" *RRRRRR* Appa responded. "Yip, yip!" He stood and climbed into the saddle, he faced backwards as he watched his family grow smaller and smaller until they faded from sight... he kept watching until the whole temple had fadded from sight._

* * *

Aang worried how he was going to climb the mountain in a storm so bad that even the origional airbenders couldn't get through it. He cpould finally see the bottom of the center mountain, but was still to far to make out a path of any kind. As Aang walked for yet another hour finally reached the botom of the mountain. All the winds had died, not even a slight breeze blew on or around the mountain. He found the broken path marked on the map, broken was an understatement, as he climbed there were many places he had to jump great distances. Aand didn't understand what could be so important up here and how Bumi knew about this cave; only a powerful airbender could make the jumps nessesary to reach the top.

Aang followed the tiny path up the mountain to the cave, he was close enough to the top now that he could see a light coming from inside the cave. After just ten minutes more he took the final jump onto the ledge at the mouth of the cave. He causiously entered the lit cave. An old woman's voice caught him by surprise, causing him to take a defensive stance.

"Hello, Aang! I've waited so long to see you again!" The woman had long silver hair, brown eyes and the tattoos of a master airbender.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am? I thought I was the last of the Airbenders!" He wasn't sure what to think or how to feel.

"My name is Sonam, and we have a lot to talk about." The small woman smiled up at him. "I missed you so much! You have your mother's kind and loving eyes."

"My... My mother! You knew my mother?!" Aang stood frozen in shock, he had never been told about his mother.

"And your father." She told him.

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED THE CHARACTERS IN ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED NICKELODEON. HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH THE WRITERS OR ANIMATORS OF ATLA. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH NICKELODEON**.

**Chapter 2**

The grey haired lady pulled out a chair for him to sit, "Have a seat before you fall over." She laughed. "I'll make us some tea."

She busied herself in the kitchen while Aang tried to recover his wits, somehow he managed to forget how to talk or think. A few minutes later she returned with a pot of tea and two cups. He was still overcome by shock his eyes glazed over. She had to tap his hand to get his mind to come back to the cave. "Aang are you okay? You must have so many questions for me... I know I have a lot for you as well."

"Oh... I... uuuuhhhh... Ye.. Yeah." He finally managed to say. "I'm... uuummm... Questions... How did Bumi know you were here?"

Sonam let out a sigh of sadness. "After the Fire Nation attacked and killed everyone in the temples there were hiding places the remaining Air Nomads went to hide. Omaha was a large hub for the remaining Air Nomads... We went there... there were rumors about caves, like this one, that were supposed to be hiding places... sadly most of the roomer caves were traps set up by the Fire Nation. I became great friends with Prince Bumi... He told me a lot about you Aang, he said you two were best friends."

One corner of Aang's mouth curved up, "We still are best friends."

The woman refilled his cup, "My turn, what happened to you after you ran away? Everyone freaked out and there was a major search for you before the Fire Nation started hunting Air Nomads."

Aang stared into his cup of tea, he was ashamed for running away like he did. "I... I ran away because they said they were going to take me away from Monk Gyatso... To send me away to complete my education at another Temple. I... I didn't want them too, I loved him like a father... So I ran away, I took Appa and ran away." He shook his head. The memories were still so fresh in his mind. "I was caught in a storm that night, the waves were so big and Appa has having a hard time with all the lightning... we... we went under. That's the last thing I remember." Then a smile spread across his face and his grey eyes twinkled, "The next think I know I was looking up into the most beautiful blue eyes, I had ever seen... The most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."

"My turn, why are you so young looking?" She asked him.

"When Appa and I went under, I passed out... I was drowning...The Avatar State... It kicked in, it took control of me and it froze Appa and I in an ice bubble... Not only did it freeze around us, it also froze us in time... One hundred years, not a single day of aging..." Aang said before asking his next question. "My parent's you said you know who they are... or rather who they were... I was reading... I don't understand how they could just give their child over to the monks and nuns to raise... I could never do that."

Sonam shook her head sadly, "Not ALL turned their children over, I was raised by my mother... You... Your mother didn't want to turn you over, she wanted to raise you... they took you from her. They said as the Avatar you needed to be brought up in an Air Temple for the best training. She loved you with every bit of herself, you were the most important thing in her life."

"One hundred years ago 'Love' was a forbidden word, our mothers weren't like the rest of the Air Nomads. You mother wanted you to know what love is... to be loved, she wanted you to love." Sonam hoped he had the chance to know love, she hoped the Monks didn't corrupt his young mind.

A smile spread across Aang's face, "I do love. I know love... I love, I'm married to the most beautiful, the most wonderful woman in the world. She is the one who found me, who brought me back to the world. We have been together since I was 12, she was 14... We have 3 beautiful children, two airbenders, and a waterbender. We have another little girl on the way." Aang told the woman.

The old woman chuckled softly, "An airbender getting married, one hundred years ago that would be taboo."

"Katara's father preformed the ceremony, Hakoda Chief of the Southern Water Tribe." Aang said proudly.

"You married a water tribe princess!" Sonam asked him.

"She is a Waterbender, the only one there after all the Fire Nation raids..." Aang smiled widely was he thought of his wonderful, growing family. She's my waterbending Master... She can still take me down every time."

Sonam let out a laugh, "The Avatar still can't beat his Waterbending Master... Even with all his power?!"

"Nope, she is a VERY powerful waterbender... But we haven't really sparred much lately." Aang was feeling much more relaxed, telling this surviving airbender about his life, about his family.

"Why not?" The old airbender asked him.

"Well... uuummm... Our oldest is almost three, we have beautiful blue eyed twin baby girls that are a year and a half old... And in just a couple months we are expecting another little girl... I just don't think it's a good idea to throw ice daggers at my pregnant wife." He chuckled lightly.

Sonam laughed too, "I haven't heard you laugh since the last Yangchan festival you were at." The last one he had attended was just after he turned twelve, it was right before he was told that he was the Avatar. "You had just gotten your tattoos... We played together, you may not remember though." A shadow crossed her face when she said it. "Do you remember anything from the Yangchan Festivals? Not the traditions the people... The children you played with while flying the crane kites... The people that talked to you every year."

"I... I remember lots of kids." Aang said sadly, he wished he could remember Sonam. "I remember a beautiful woman with long black hair and beautiful grey eyes bringing me an Egg custard tart to every Yangchan Festival. She was always smiling at me and telling me I've gotten so big... She always wished me a happy birthday... I never understood how she knew I had just had a birthday... I figured she was one of Monk Gyatso's friends, they always talked and watched me as I flew the kites."

Sonam smiled, "That was your mother... She loved you so much... When they took you from her, she begged them to have Monk Gyatso raise you. He was a very dear friend, one she had since she was a child... She flew the crane kites with him when she was a child too."  
Aang was in shock, "She... she was my mother?!" He had no idea how to react or what to say. "What... what was her name?" Tears stung his eyes, he saw this woman every year; she always had an egg custard tart and most of the time a small gift for him. He never knew she was his mother... She loved him, she did not abandon him.

"Anila, she was a powerful Airbender, she earned her tattoos at fourteen." The old woman told him.

"Anila that is a beautiful name!" Aang said.

"She kept telling everyone you were still alive... She said she would feel it if you died. Nobody believed her. She wouldn't stop looking for you, even when everyone told her to hide, she searched... She was right, you are still alive."

"And... and my father?" Aang asked her.

"Your father... well, he turned out to be more than what people had come to know him for... He was killed while he was protecting his daughter... your sister." Sonam said as she quickly wiped the tears away.

"I had a sister?" Aang asked the kind old woman.

"Well, technically you had several half siblings... from your father." Sonam told him. "Your mother had two other children."

"What was his name?" Aang asked her.

"His name was Amitaruci." She told him.

"Anila and Amitaruci..." Aang sat in wonder, he always wondered who his parents were, what they were like, what they looked like. He knew from all the studying he did that Air Nomads didn't marry but he wondered if they loved each other. "You knew them both?"

"Yes, I was but a young girl when the attacks and murders started... With the help of the king and Queen of Omashu, My mother and I were moved here... To this cave to protect us... Anila gave us a special message to keep until the day that we see you again Aang... She wanted you to know, that she loved you dearly, that you were the most important thing in the world to her. They wouldn't let her keep you, that's why she chose Monk Gyatso to raise you. She hid in the Fire Nation itself."

"She loved me?" Aang's voice caught in his throat. He tried to choke back the tears but he just couldn't hold back anymore... His mother loved him!


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED THE CHARACTERS IN ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED NICKELODEON. HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH THE WRITERS OR ANIMATORS OF ATLA. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH NICKELODEON**.

**Chapter 3**

Sonam patted his hand then got up and went about preparing a meal for them. "I don't have a very large variety of fruits and vegetables up here but at least you know it won't kill you." She laughed.

Aang was in shock, he often wondered about his parents; who they were, what were they like, did they love each other. He grew up like every other kid, in a temple raised by monks and nuns, no reason to question it. Monk Gyatso never had a serious discussion about breading practices and why parents didn't raise their own children. Shortly after Katara found him he fell in love with her; after the war ended he could never picture a future without Katara, and never ever in his life could he abandon his children, he loved them with all his being.

Sonam had filled his teacup a few times before he said anything. "What were they like? My parents." Aang asked.

"Anila was a happy playful person, as soon as she turned sixteen she was so excited to be on her own. Her first Yangchan Festival on her own was when your father asked her to travel with him for a while… For the Air Nomads that meant to bread." She told him. "She carried what the Air Nomads called a flaw, but we never thought of it as a flaw… She loved."

"Love is not a flaw!" Aang was shocked that it could EVER be considered a flaw.

"I know it's not… I loved my mother very much, and I loved my little brother. I'm not even a full year older than him." Sonam let out a laugh, "But now I look like I'm one hundred years older than him."

Aang's eyes widened, "You… you're my sister?"

"Yes Aang we have the same father." Sonam smiled.

Aang quickly rose and went to her, he hugged her. "I can't believe it! It was awesome enough to find another airbender, but to find MY actual sister! Spirits, thank you for leading me here!"

Sonam hugged him back, "I missed you so much!"

"I would love to take you back to the Southern Air temple with me!" He told her.

"It would be lovely to see the Air Temples again." She told him.

"You could meet my children, your nieces and nephews!" He said excitedly. "We could leave tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow." She smiled. "May I ask another? What is the world like now? What happened after Fire Lord Sozin started invading the other nations?"

Aang explained to her what happened to the world after the Air Nomad genocide took place, recounting to her everything he had learned for Katara and Sokka, what he had learned as they traveled the world.

He told her how Katara found him and freed him from his icy slumber. He told her of his adventures with the Water Tribe siblings and his other friends and of how quickly he had learned the other elements, and how quickly he had fallen in love with that fourteen year old girl that set him free. He told her that at age twelve he defeated Fire Lord Ozai on the day the passed by the earth and magnified all firebending, that at age twelve he became the youngest fully realized Avatar in history. They talked for hours about him and his family.

Then the conversation changed to his parents again. "Anila became known for making some of the most beautiful hair wreaths from fresh flowers, she made them all year round, each season in a different nation with different kinds of flowers." His sister told him. "She was a wonderful mother… She chose you over pure enlightenment Aang, that's how much she loved you.

"As for our father…" Sonam shook her head, "He was a very handsome man, you look almost exactly like him… He was not a very good person at all though. He… he liked to seduce girls that were just starting out on their own, at sixteen." Sonam could see the shock in Aang's eyes. "He was not a very good person at all." Sonam told Aang the stories Anila and Karma had told her about Amitaruci. "He was killed by Fire Nation troops while protecting me… I watched them beat him until his face was covered in blood… They kept asking him if there were any other airbenders around… he kept telling him no but they just kept hitting and punching him. Once he was to the point where he collapsed they stabbed him and left him for death. I was hiding under the bed. It was the only good thing he did for us."

"It was his fault you were taken from your mother." Sonam continued. "He was angry with her… I was told he told Anila that he loved her and wanted to stay with her forever, she once had very strong feelings for him but after you were born she reevaluated her priorities and told him she didn't want to be with him. She was falling for a young man she had meet in the Fire Nation. Amitaruci became enraged and hit her; she was rescued by the young firebender. By this time they had already spent a few months together. His name was Zakai, after he rescued Anila they secretly married that night. Both of your parents knew very early that you were the Avatar, She knew they would make her give her to them so she hid with you… unfortunately they found us and took you from her, Amitaruci had told them of you and where to find you. It ripped her apart on the inside, if it weren't for Zakai she probably would have died of a broken heart. She went on to tell him about his mother and her life with Zakai, that after they married they had two children, a girl airbender named Minori, and a boy firebender named after his father Zakia. She told him how last she knew Anila and Zakai lived in the Fire Nation, Anila hiding in plain sight from the Fire Lord.

…

Aang helped his sister make dinner, and get things ready to go tomorrow. They could only take what they could carry. "Aang, could you carry this wooden box for me? It has some very important stuff for you in it." She asked him.

"Of course I can." He smiled at her.

"You look just like our father, but you have your mother's heart." Sonam told him. "One more thing please try to find Zakai and his decedents in the Fire Nation… Please promise my you'll look for them."

"I promise." He chuckled. "I'll see you in the morning." He told her as he took his meditation position and closed his eyes." Sonam smiled, happy to see that he still followed Air Nomad ways.

She closed her own eyes and whispered "I have waited so long for you, little brother."

…

When Aang woke up the next morning something didn't fee l right, the place felt empty, it felt like he was alone. He went to the kind old woman's bed and found her motionless, she was wearing a smile. Her last words echoed in his head… 'I have waited so long for you, little brother.'

He covered her with her blanket, gave her the best send away an Avatar could. He found some cloth to make a hammock for the heavy box. As he left the cave he shot in a blast of super-hot fire inside, clearing any evidence that someone had been living there.

Aang began his journey back across the wastelands.

The End

(This leads back to Together Again)

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